Alan Yam (right), who was driving the Muni bus that was set on fire after the Giants' World Series win, and Simon Timony (left), who tried to prevent the crowd from vandalizing the Muni bus after the Giants' World Series win, shake hands before a ceremony honoring them at City Hall on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

Alan Yam (right), who was driving the Muni bus that was set on fire...

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Alan Yam (l to r), who was driving the Muni bus that was set on fire after the Giants' World Series win, and Simon Timony, who tried to prevent the crowd from vandalizing the Muni bus after the Giants' World Series win, embrace as they say goodbye after being honored at City Hall on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

Alan Yam didn't want to go down with the bus. But he was the last one off.

Yam, 35, was driving his articulated Muni bus in downtown San Francisco after the Giants World Series win on Oct. 28 when he was blocked by a giant crowd of exuberant fans at Third and Market streets.

Yam, a resident of the Mission District, stopped his bus, told his eight passengers to hold tight and radioed dispatch for help. Police were on the way, the dispatcher said.

That's when the revelers focused on the bus.

"Then one of the guys said, 'Get the bus,' " Yam recalled Tuesday, while accepting honors from the city Municipal Transportation Agency board. "They started smashing the bus, smashing the windows, smashing the doors."

Yam radioed dispatch again. Help was on the way, the voice said. Stay in the bus, stay calm.

Outside, Simon Timony, 28, of San Francisco didn't like what he was seeing. He said he ran into the crowd, trying to pull people away from the bus.

For his trouble, someone in the crowd broke Timony's nose and threw him to ground, where he banged his head and suffered a concussion. Police are investigating the assault but don't have many leads, said Timony, whose actions were also recognized by the transit board.

Yam was still hunkering down in his bus.

Then things took a turn. The crowd seemed angrier. Some were picking up pieces of burning trash, toying with the idea of lighting something - anything - on fire.

"I thought the outside might be safer than the inside," Yam said. He turned off his bus, got all the passengers off and ran back on board to radio dispatch for help.

Then someone in the crowd, police are trying to figure who, took a piece of burning trash and threw it into the bus. The bus caught fire.

Yam picked up his personal cell phone and called dispatch one last time. His thumbs were shaking so much he could hardly key the numbers.

"The bus is on fire," he told the dispatcher. "They just told me, 'Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.' "

Police eventually arrived and cleared the crowd. Firefighters put out the blaze, which destroyed the $700,000 bus.

On Tuesday, the head of Muni said Yam was a hero who saved the lives of his eight passengers, none of whom has contacted Yam.

Yam, a two-year veteran of Muni, had to leave right after Tuesday's 1 p.m. ceremony. He had a bus to drive.